How fast can through hole PCBs run?

I'm trying to rate the speed of my pathetic attempts at electronics. So sticking specifically to through hole construction with DIP packages. A soldered PCB like mine can operate at 5MHz. Mine is slower. Why?

PCB Assembly, PCB Design
December 6, 2023

Through-hole components are more limited in speed than surface-mount ones.

Because they need longer pins and bigger packages. As a result, the PCB itself has to be bigger, and longer traces hinder the performance even more. However, for a reasonably-sized PCB, these factors only matter for frequencies in tens or a hundred of MHz.
Another factor is that many fast-grade chips simply don’t exist in DIP packages, which makes through-hole designs slower in general. Though this isn’t a limitation of trough-hole assembly itself.

#PCB Assembly #PCB Design

Oliver Smith

Oliver is an experienced electronics engineer skilled in PCB design, analog circuits, embedded systems, and prototyping. His deep knowledge spans schematic capture, firmware coding, simulation, layout, testing, and troubleshooting. Oliver excels at taking projects from concept to mass production using his electrical design talents and mechanical aptitude.

Oliver Smith

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